Placer-dredge bucket



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'Dec. 16, 1924.

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PLACER DREDG-E BUCKET Filed Dec. 2. 1 921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inns niorp' Zflalier jrrzjsf Mafia J7 Zeepe.

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w. FERRIS ET AL Dec. 16, 1924.

PLACER DREDQE BUCKET mad Dec. 2. 1921 s Sheets-Shaw as my W Z m M? aw r W Patent ed Dec. 16, 1924.

UNITED: STATES PATENT w -E.

WALTER rERRIs, or MILWAITKEE, Am) MATTHEW r. xnnsn, or SOUTH MILWAUKEE,

WISCONSIN, ASSIGNORS TO BUCYRUS .OF MILWAUKEE,

' CORPORATION or Wisconsin.

WiSCONSIN, A

3 'PmcER-DREDGE BUcxnTQ Application nledibec'ember 2, 1921. Serial No. 519;:259.

To an whom it may concern:

7 Be it known that we, WALTER Fannie and MATTHEW F. Knnsn, being citizens of the United States, and residents respectively, of Milwaukee, and of South Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee and State of Wiscon-' sin, and whose post-oifice addressiscare of -Bucyrus Company, South Milwaukee, Wis

consin, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Placer-Dredge Buckets,

. of which the following is a specification.

- Our invention relatesto placer dredging machinery, U and particularly to dredge chains formed. of-connected buckets that form a continuous belt, the use of which is familiar to those acquainted with the dredgin%art. H ur invention "has vide a bucket bottom'with outwardly'curw inigl sides to which dam material. will not a ere, to provide abuc et having a bottom substantially rounded and .free from the sharp angles and pockets which are-characteristic of the buckets now in use. past it has been the practice to use a bucket which, in a sense, forms a link in a chain,

.and the bottom of which lies within two link ing straight sides between which side members and is confined by them havsticky material tends to adhere. A further object is to provide a light casting and to avoid large, thiok masses of metal which would interfere with heat treatment of the casting. A further object is to rovide a cast bucket-so perforated andprovided with cores and apertures that the cooling water used during heat treatment will have access throughout the mass and good circulation during and after the heat treatment. further objectis to provide a bucket bushin which shall be particularly stable and sa e from shifting in its seat, and which shall be adapted to prevent any escape of or wedgin of the bushing between the bucket pin an the inner corners of the bushing engaging shoulders. r

We illustrate our invention more or less diagrammatically in the following drawings, wherein:

inthe In the damp, T

Fig. 3 is a sectlon on the lines-3 3 of Fig. is a section on the lines 4-.4;of

Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a section on'the lines 5-5 of ig2. 6 is a section on the lines 6-6 of g- Fig. 7 is a to view of the bucket link;

Fig. 8 is a p an view of the bucket. v Like parts are indicated by likenumb'ers throughout the" drawings.

A is. a cast placer mining bucket to which p is removably. secured a cutting lip or elefor one object to pro- .o

nal center line of the link, the space between being equal to the width of the e e. A. -Extending forwardly from the eye its lower surface tangential tojboth eyes, is the tread plate A which-supports the depending bot tom A of the bucket A by. means of .the webs A A? A". The space between the webs forms the passages A A, which are open forwardly and-project inwardly about the bottom A? of the bucket. Preferably, they are each connected with the interior of the rear eye A b passages-A A There may, if desire be an opening in each of the passages A A to the bottom of the A tread surface, as at A A. The outer tread members A A projecting forwardly from A are parallel.

The .bottom A of the bucket, which is spaced away from the tread plate A and supported by the webs' Ar" ,A A, depends slightly within the side link elements A A, the u "per line of which is indicated by the 'dotte -line-in Fig. 2. The bottom of the bucket,'howev er, is sufliciently lifted to prevent any constriction between these side link elements and to permit its bottom to be I rounded or inclined without interference therewith,to showthe contours indicated in Figs. 3-6. The link .elements incline outwardly from the single eye to join the eyes A and the parallel tread membersA A at the end adjacent the eye A, link. and

tread are bound together by the webs B B The rear eye A is apertured as at G to form an aperture bounded by two concentric arcs of different radius, adapted to receive about .substantially more than one-half of its cir-' cumference the inserted bushing C, the

\ends of which contact the opposed surfaces size and relation of parts without departing are as follows:

' We have illustrated a bucket which forms alink having at one end a single centrally from the spirit-of our invention. I 'The use and operation of our invention located eye and at the other end two eyes at the sides of the link. i The chain usedis com posed of a plurality of these bucket l inks articulated, the side eyes beingpinned .through into the center eye by the; usual form of bucket pins. 1 I It has been ast practice to employ a bucket link in w ich the bottom of the bowl penetrated far between the side elements of the link and formed part of the bearing sur- I face or treadportion of'the link. This had several disadvantages.

large thickened mass of metal could only be In the first place, a

avoided by dropp'ing'the bottom of the bowl between the links. The location of the bottom of the bucket near the lower extremity of the side elements made a perpendicular.-

sided bucket bottom neces'sary,; in which the opposed sides were parallel and perpendicular to the bottom of the bucket. T he upper portion of the bucket walls then flared out from the constricted bottom portion. -The 'result was that the damp, sticky material lifted by the bucket tended to adhere to the constricted perpendicular lower walls. and. the bucket was therefore wasteful to use and required frequent cleaning and stoppage of the machine.

' In the form shown, applicants have lifted I the bucket above the bottom of the link, thus making it possible to curve the bottom. "walls abutting surfaces.

to make them a continuation of the outwardly flared upper walls, thus avoiding the tendency of material to gather and stick to the bottom. The result is a bucket having a substantially hemispherical bottom or end, entirely free from the angles, pockets and depressions which are so. characteristic of the buckets nowin use. This arrangement, furthernior'e, make possible the breaking up of a large bottom massof the metal casting by a plurality of apertures or galleries through which a free circulation of water can pass during the heat treatment of the casting.- -The intermediate webs serve to strengthen the whole assemblyand to support the bot-' tom of the bucket. I

The new arrangement provides immediately in front of the singleeyelet, what isin effect 'a box girder, the two'lateral vertical sides of which are made up of the link mem hers, the lower horizontal side being made up of the laterally extended bearing web projecting forward and tangentially from the lower side o'f the eye, the upper side of the box girder being made up of the curved bottomof the bucket itself and contacting or terminating in a tangent to the upper feet enables the most economical distribution of the metal and does away with the necessity of having a large mass-concentrated at one point where heat treatment would be difiicult and when initial shrinkage strains might be concentrated and cause structural or other weaknesses, while at the same time obtaininga well designed bucket interior. I In the earlier buckets'thc bushing C formed one-half of an annulus, and in practice the bearing surfaces at its ends frequently became sufficiently worn andbattered to permit the bushing to revolve in its seat and to wedge in between the pin and the inner wall of the bearing aperture The. present form makes this impossible, since the bushing is carried beyond the diametrically opposed points of. the earlier bushing and its ends are opposed by more deeplyrecessed Experience has shown that the present form is substantially free from the objections above outlined and the side of the single eye; This box girder efbushing, when once seated. rests firmly in- I place and does not tend to escape.

" l'Ve claim: '1. A link for excavator chains comprising a relatively longcentrally located-eye, link members forwardly and outwardly inclined from the oppositeends ofsaid eye and terminating in a pairof opposed. side eyes, a tread plate separate from and spaced below the bottom of the bucket, projecting forwardly-from and tangent to the single eyeand, -joining the lower edges ,ofthe linkmembers.

2. A link for excavator chains comprising a relatively long centrally located" eye, members forwardly and outwardly inclined from-the opposite ends of said eye and terminating ina pair of opposed side eyes, a

tread plate projectingforwardly' from and tangent to the single eye and joining the lower edges of the link members, reinforcing webs on theouter sides of the link members terminating ina'plane substantially in line with the outer sides oft-he side eyes.

3. A chain for bucket excavators comprising a-plurality of separate links havingqeach a central pivot sleeve and link members for-'- iwardly and outwardly inclined from the 0pposite ends of said sleeve, said link members terminating in eyes, the distance between .the

opposed eyes being substantially equal to the length of the sleeve, and spacing webs on the outside of the linkmembers extend ing rearwardly from the eyes to'a point adjacent the sleeve, to provide a chain having parallel sides.

5 4. An integrally cast bucket for exca vators comprising a link member havinga treadplate on the bottom of the link extend 'ng from side to side thereof, and abucket mounted on the, top of the link and having its'bottom aboveand ovr-lyin' the tread plate, and separated therefrom y an open intervening space.

5. A bucket member forchain excavators comprising a link having a centralbearing sleeve and a bucket mounted on the liiik, the bottom of the bucket terminating above the I bottom of the link and a tread plate spaced from the bottom of the bucket and tangent to and, integral with the sleeve.

. 6. A bucket forexcavator'chains compris ing a link member and a bucket memberin tegral therewith, a tread plate'integral vwith the link member separated from the body of the bucket and a core passage'locatedwithin the link between-it and the bucket member" topermit water circulation for heat treat 'ment.

7. An integrallycastbucket for chain excavators "comprising a link member having a pair of substantiallyli vertical, substantially parallel side'elem'entsQa bucket integral with and mounted on .the top of said link member and supported by said side elements, the bottom of the bucket being substantially as high above the bottom of the link as are the tops of the link side elements, and a tread plate extendin from side to side ofthebottomof said link, underlying said'bucket bottom and separated therefrom by an open intervening space.

8. A bucket-element for chain excavators comprising a link member having side link elements, a'bucket mounted on the link member, its bottom substantially even with the tops of said link members, and atread plate parallel with the bottoms of said link mom hers, and out of; contact with, and spaced from the bottom of the bucket.

9. -An integrally cast bucket for excavators comprising a link member, a bucket cast integrally therewith, a tread plate upon the bottom of said link member extending v from side to side thereof, underlying and vertically separated from the rear of said bucket bottom by an open intervening space.

10. A bucket for excavator chains comprising a link member and a bucket integral therewith, a tread 'plate'lying beneath and spaced from said bucket bottom, supporting webs between said bucket bottom and tread.

plate, and apertures therebetween opening into the Spacebetween the sides of the link.

11.- A-bucket for excavator chains comprising a linkmember, a single perforated lug at one end, and a double perforated lug at the other, side webs connecting said lu s, andtread plate connecting said side we s and said single lug, a bucket portion integral tegral and joining said side webs, and core openings extending between said tread plate and said bucket portion, and communicating with the perforations of the single lug. a 13. A bucket for excavator chains having and joining said side webs, and core open- 'ings extendingbetween the lowest portion at one end a single perforated lug, a'tread plate projecting'forwardly from the bottom of said lug, a bucket projecting substantially forwardly and downwardly from the top of said lug, link side members joining said bucket and said treadplate, said bucket and tread plate being separated by open spaces intermediate .said link side members.

'14:. Abucket member for chain excavators comprising a link having a central bearing sleeve anda bucket mounted on the link, the bottom of the bucket terminating above the bottom of the link, a tread plate projecting forwardly from and tangent to and integral with the sleeve, and a separating web joining said tread plate and said bucket bottom, the wall of the sleeve being apertured to communicate with the space between the bucket bottom and the tread plate.

15. An integrally cast bucket for excavators comprising a link member having a tread plate on the bottom of the link and extending from-side toside thereof, and a bucket extending from" side to side of said link member, the bottom of said bucket overlying said tread plate and vertically separated therefrom by an intervening open space, the forward edge of said tread plate open intervening space, said space being underlying the lowest portion of the bucket open in the direction of the front of'the bottom. link. 1 16. An integrally cast bucket forexca- Signed at South Milwaukee, JViseonsin,

5 vators comprising a link member having a this 29th dayof November, 1921. I 15 tread plate on the bottom of the link .ex- 1 WALTER FERRIS. tending from side to side thereof, and a v MATTHEVF. KEESE. bucket mounted on the top of the link and 'itnesses: I having its bottom above and overlying the HELEN FINKLER 19 tread plate and separated therefrom by an J. EIYOGER. 

